Knowledge Base

Mobile Facts

Discover the hidden history, surprising statistics, and forgotten milestones behind the devices in your pocket.

"Google's Android was originally designed for digital cameras, not phones."

"Bluetooth is named after Harald Bluetooth, a 10th-century Danish king, symbolizing the unification of communication protocols."

"Nokia sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft for $7.2 billion in 2014, marking the end of an era."

"The first mobile phone with GPS was the Benefon Esc! in 1999."

"The first beeper, or pager, was invented in 1949 by Al Gross for use in hospitals."

"The first public payphone was installed in 1889 in Hartford, Connecticut, charging 5 cents per call."

"Rotary dial phones, requiring users to spin a dial for each number, were standard until touch-tone phones replaced them in the 1960s."

"BlackBerry held 20% of the global smartphone market in 2009, but fell to less than 1% by 2016."

"Copper wires carried telephone signals for over 100 years, providing reliable but limited bandwidth communication."

"The world's first smartphone was the IBM Simon, released in 1994."

"The first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8, was laid in 1988, revolutionizing international communication."

"Nextel merged with Sprint in 2005, but the push-to-talk service was eventually discontinued."